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Double Bulava launch on Monday

Bulava launch in October 2011 visible over Northern Norway.

Russia plans to test launch two Bulava intercontinental missiles from the White Sea on Monday November 28. People in Northern Norway should get up early and have their cameras ready.

Location

The launch was originally planned for today, but because of weather conditions it has been moved to Monday, a source in the Navy tells Vedomosti.

This will be the first time Russia’s first fourth-generation strategic submarine “Yury Dolgoruky” fires a multiple launch. So far, the submarine has only fired three missiles – in June, August and October.

The last launch was visible from large parts of Northern Norway in the early morning hours of October 28. At 05.45 Norwegian time people in Northern Norway could see a strange light phenomenon in the sky to the north-east.

- We saw a light to the northeast on the sky which zigzagged and went up and down. We could see a spurt of flame and assumed it was a Russian missile, one of the eyewitnesses said.

In December 2009, a failed Bulava-launch created a giant spiral shaped light that could be seen in the eastern sky from large parts of Northern Norway for several minutes. The incident triggered speculations on UFOs, black holes and HAARP weapons.

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov recently warned that the planned multiple launch could be postponed until next spring if the weather conditions are too bad for a launch now, BarentsObserver reported.

Development and testing of the Bulava missile has a long and troublesome history with many failed launches and other setbacks. Read BarentsObserver’s articles on the Bulava missile.